To have wanted a better answer?

[Justmadeperfectflapjacks]

Ds 15 is studying hard for exams and doing really well.

He had a sore throat yesterday but put it down to a concert at the week end tbh (singing /shouting!)
Rang Dr at app line opening time(830)as sat at school gates so could have rushed him over and not been too late for school. . Got through and no appointments left - for the rest of the week!!
Explained about exams etc can't have a week off school at this time.
She suggested she could give me an app at the new extended hours clinic - on Friday night at 7.30!!
Our OOH closed last month and sitting all day in the A&E with him and a toddler isn't appealing. (her suggestion)
So I asked her nicely - "I am not being funny but how do I get an appointment with my own /his own Dr"?
" I don't know "was her answer!!!
Speechless.
Just been to pick ds up as he had a coughing fit and school weren't happy to keep him!!
Will ring 111 when he has had a sleep. .
Pre booked appointments are sometimes available so maybe will book 3 a week for the foreseeable just in case!!

I wonder if this is how guys grow up to be total babies and develop man flu. When they had a sore throats growing up someone wanted to rush them to a doc or a&e

Buy him throat medication from the pharmacy.

Is it big and swollen on one side? It may just be a sore throat. It may be tonsilitis or it may be quinsy. But if he has the latter, it's going to be more than just a sore throat and cough, he'd be very unwell. Can you take him to the local pharmacy for advice?

As others have stated: If your son has a sore throat, keep him out of school, take him to a pharmacist and seek advice.

Your concern regarding exams is understandable but can't be helped - children get ill at inconvenient times. Unfortunately, sending him back to school too soon would be deeply inconsiderate. Unless your son is unlucky and gets a secondary infection, he'll recover quickly. However, if he goes back to school while still infectious he may infect someone else with compromised resistance - such as an asthmatic - and for whom a sore throat may be far more problematic. At this point, a child with compromised resistance catching a minor infection may precipitate something more serious, like pneumonia, and cause them miss their GCSE's entirely.

I agree with the Difflam advice. Amazing stuff.

Put him to bed with some painkillers. He's going to recover much quicker if u let him.rest

Sometimes a sore throats isn't just a sore throat. I didn't see my gp for three weeks with a sore throat that was agonising from day one. If I seen them sooner I could have had antibiotics to get rid of the tonsillitis and been fine. Isnt it best to get things checked than to guess it's fine and leave it?

That's not even remotely like having a sore through for one day, which is what the OP's son has had

*throat

I get that. Guess I'm just over cautious as one of my kids has a compromised immune system, I've been warned so much now that things can be worse than they seem that with kids I've become too cautious.

There is a HORRIBLE throat infection doing the rounds just now. It needs to be treated with antibiotics. We are talking truly debilitating, if untreated. My 20 yr old actually came back from Uni he was that ill. Couldn't eat for days, slept all day and night, raging temp and tonnes of puss oozing from his mouth. My DD had it too.

Call 111. They will make you an appt at local hospital. We were in and out in 5 mins. Job done.

That's not even remotely like having a sore throat for one day.

Couldn't eat for days, slept all day and night, raging temp and tonnes of puss oozing from his mouth

Yes, but that's not the symptoms the OP's son is presenting . He apparently shouted/sang himself hoarse the other day, and was coughing today. Both could irritate a throat, especially if said person has a virus. Of course, if 'puss starts running out of his mouth', seeing a doctor wouldn't be unreasonable. It is more likely to be a virus/something that can be sorted by the pharmacy than needing antibiotics and a doctor. Regardless, the former should always be tried before making a gp appointment- if home remedies don't work and it's getting worse, that's what the gp appointment is for!

Take him to see a pharmacist. Hardly any wait, and they know more about sore throats than doctors.

Pharmacist. They are completely qualified to deal with sore throats if you can't manage it with simple home remedies like salt water gargles, honey and lemon, throat sweets etc - there are some excellent ones which numb your throat really effectively. Highly unlikely you need a GP, much less a specific one, to deal with this problem.

Take him to the chemist and ask the pharmacist to have a look. Actually, he's 15 so can take himself to the chemist.

Use the pharrmacist - they're great and always my first point of call, saved me hours waiting about at the surgery.

They will either say "you have this, and need this" which you buy immediately, or they say "you have this and need this but it's only available on prescription" or they say "no idea, go and see your gp".

Be sensible.

My two year old had a bad cough for a few weeks before I took him to the doctor... I did right, it was a viral thing that he just needed to wait out. If I can avoid my children having antibiotics I will. Parents bts need to stop being so dramatic... It just causes hypercondria (sp?) and turns men into wusses when older.

Dear SIL finished up in hospital with "just a sore throat" - he had a quinsey and was choking and struggling to breathe. OP knows her child.

Try thorazets- they have anti-biotic in and available over pharmacy counter

Still go to docs though

As if he's got quinsy. He's had a sore throat for less than a day.

Given the limited amount of information given, Blossomdeary, and the fact the op seems to have disappeared without adding further, do you think it's more likely to be a common virus or quinsy?

Even if the child has something more than a sore throat, more 'serious' symptoms should be presenting before demanding doctor's appointments. It's like saying 'I have a rash, best go to the doctor as Mrs Jones's nephew's teacher's aunt once had one and it turned out to be a flesh eating bug. Can never be too careful'. That's why we have pharmacists as a first port of call for these things!

Why do people try and diagnose what it could be, based on someone they know once having something wrong with them? Especially when the symptons are so different from what the op describez!

Given our average wait for an appointment is three weeks then I would say that you are actually doing well.

If they sent him home from school he is really ill. Accept the Friday appointment, take him to the pharmacist, and if he deteriorates quickly, straight to Emergency. That's what it is for.

If you onestly think ds might have a quinsey (wonderfully Dickensian sort of word, isn't it? ), then take him straight to the pharmacist who will tell you for sure.

Can he open his mouth?
Can he speak comprehensibly?
Can he swallow water?

Honestly, I meant honestly not 'onestly''.

I do not like these pretend keyboards.

It's a sore throat and a cough that has been present for one day after activity that would naturally lead itself to having a sore throat ... it is not time to see the GP in an emergency appointment.

If it gets significantly worse in the course of a day or two to the point he can't swallow and/or breathe properly then it is time to see a GP as that is not normal. Otherwise you do not need a GP appointment until it reaches the point where a normal sore throat would have run it's course (so after a week or so) especially considering this isn't an illness that has come out of the blue but the consequence of shouting/singing at a weekend concert, where sore throats should be expected!